1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to virtual communities and more specifically to cross-population of the members of two or more of the virtual communities.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There are multiple different virtual communities available online via the Internet or other communication networks. Created by an administrator, an individual user, or the like, a community represents an aggregation of users within the virtual social network who typically share something in common. A community is, therefore, generally directed toward a particular subject matter. Users with an interest in the subject matter may join the community and interact with other users with a similar interest. The subject matter may be, for example, social, hobby-related, fan-related, or business-related. A user may choose to create or join various communities corresponding with any of that user's interests.
Some examples of general interest virtual communities include AOL, MySpace, Friendster, Digg, and LinkedIn. Examples of special interest virtual communities include Scuba Board (scuba diving), Ars Technica (computing), Salon.com (technology and politics), Yelp (consumer reviews), match.com (online dating), and the like. Further, general interest websites, such as Yahoo!, may include community features such as discussion boards, personal media pages, and friend lists. Further, large online retailers, such as Amazon, may include product reviews, lists posted by customers, and so on. Blogs, such as Patently-O (patent law), may also have community features such as comment boards on which visitors can post comments.
FIG. 1 is an illustration of two virtual communities according to the prior art. A first virtual community 102 and a second virtual community 104 are separately accessible via the Internet 106. The first virtual community 102 operates independently from the second virtual community (i.e., has independent members, content, layout, and the like). For example, the first virtual community 102 may be a general virtual community, such as MySpace, and the second virtual community may be a special interest virtual community, such as Salon.com.
Often a person will be a member of more than one virtual community. For example, a person may belong to AOL, LinkedIn, and Ars Technica. Thus, a person may have separate profiles for each community. Further, the person may also regularly view, but not be a member of, other virtual communities. Currently, people must register separately for each virtual community and login separately to each virtual community. Further, people may not be able to find other virtual communities related to their interests.